Wildfire Burning In Fishers Pit In Berkeley
BEACHWOOD-BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ — A wildfire burning in Fishers Pit on the border of Beachwood and Berkeley Township remained under watch from firefighters Monday night as it continued to send smoke across the area.
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Berkeley Township police issued an alert shortly before 10 p.m. Monday saying New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews were on the scene assessing the fire, which was first reported about 6 p.m.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service, in an update shortly after 10 p.m., said crews were prepping and strengthening fire lines and using a backfire and burnout operation to contain the fire, which was zero percent contained Monday night.
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“When firefighters arrived on scene initial attack efforts were unsuccessful due to erratic fire behavior,” the Forest Fire Service update said.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office posted drone photos to Facebook of the fire late Monday evening showing a fairly large area that was burning, and warned that road closures are possible Tuesday morning.
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Crews were attacking the fire from an access area off Northern Boulevard in Berkeley, and about 7 p.m. additional crews were assembling at the Beachwood soccer complex, west of the site of the fire.
Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, who was at the soccer complex, said the fire was about 5 acres at that time, when thick smoke was rising and blowing east across Berkeley’s Sylvan Lakes neighborhood and part of Beachwood and Pine Beach. The smoke created a haze along part of Route 9.
The smoke appeared to have dissipated by about 7:20 p.m., with the plume no longer seen rising above the trees, but firefighters were still carefully monitoring the fire at that time.
Among those who responded at the Beachwood complex were the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, police from Beachwood and Berkeley Township, Berkeley Township and Beachwood firefighters along with a truck from Toms River Fire District 1, and the Berkeley Township First Aid Squad.
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